Movable book-support



W. A. LEWIS & L. C. EISENHART.

- MOVABLE BOOK SUPPORT.

APPLICA I'ION FILED APR. 18. I916.

Pdt ented Mar. 5, 1918.

.I INYENTOR Zww aria ATTORNEY m ems T7 WILLIAMFA. EwIs nn Lynn 0'.means-am; or s xty To-aZZ whom it may concern: H 1 v Be it known thatwe, VILLIA AQLEWIS and LYLE C. EISENHART, citizens" of the UnitedStates, residing atSilver City, in'tlie county of- Owyhee andState ofIdaho, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMovableBook-Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to a movable book support for use in banks,mercantile houses.

and otherplaces where large books are used to keeprecords of accountsand 1n tax othces and the like where extensive indexes of names withvarious data relating thereto are recorded in. similar books; In the useof books of this kind, itis necessary to "stand before them and whenreading therefrom or inscribing data therein, the large size of thebooks" necessitates such-person walking to and fro infront of the bookand also the ex penditure of considerable physical exertion in lifting,turning; and dragging the-book about to get it in the mostconvenientposition. To render unnecessary the expenditure of so mrchphysical exertion which'in the course of the day is very tiresome andwearing, is the-object of the present invention, which consists inproviding a carriage upon which books are supported and rails mountedupon a desk or other support to sustain the carriage and permit it to bemoved from side to slde 111 front of a person, while he is sitting orstanding-in one place, thereby enabling the book to be moved into themost convenient position for the.

persons use and without exertion on his part.

In the accompanying drawing which represents the preferred form of theinvention,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a desk or other support withthe invention in place thereon.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view. of the same on the lines 22.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a detail View of one of the SHP'.

porting rollers; I v

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a modified form ofthe device. and Fig. 6 is a view of one of the carriage supportingrollers used in connection with the modification.

Referring to the drawing by numerals, 10 indicates the top of a desk,table or other relatively-fixed support to which is secured MovABLn Boo-swam.

first, imno.

"Specification of Letters Pate nt. I P tented-Mar. 5, 1918- i v IApplication filed Apri 11 8, 1916. Serial No; 91,959. i I

two an n and 12111215 118 was to each other and to the front of thetoplO and spaced apart a suitabledistance, the front '60 rail ll restingdirectly, on thetop '10, While the back rail-12 is elevated on feet '13to such height as willgive. the desired inclina tion to the booksupportingcarriageld trayelingover'said railsQ These rails arepreferably made of fiat metal,the ends of'the rear rail 12 being bentdownwardly and upwardly as; shown in Fig. 2- andoform the supportingfeet from: which CIOSSr'bElIS 15 extend forwardly to the front rail glliThese cross-bars are riveted to both rails andserve to" formav strongrectangular. framea Above each rail and parallel therewith,j-is

a guide strip 16, .the ends. of which =.-are' turned down and rivetediorotherwise se said rails. A foot 17 may be placed atthe it isliable tosag under the weightlof the carriage and the booksupported thereon.

'center'of therear rail 12 and extends to the f a toplO when said railis; of such length that" The carriage licomprises a rectangular v top 18sufficiently large to support the-largest;

book and preferablyhas an-upstanding ledge 19 at the front or lower edgeofthe topand a similar ledge 20 at each side which serves to hold thebook on the top. The top 1 8 is preferably made of sheet steel and maybe ofskeleton form as shown in the drawing or made solid as desired.

Each corner of the top or desk 18 is sup ported by a rollerQl pivotallymounted in a bracket 22 riveted against the bottom of the. top 18, thetwo rollers at the front of the desk bearingon the rail 11, while thetwo at the rear thereof, run on the rail 12. The

rollers 21 are of sufiicient length to extend across the rails 11 and 12and have a diameter nearly equalto the distance between the said railsand the guides 16 thereover. The brackets 22 in which the rollers aremounted have verticalbearing plates 23 ateach end,

tween the bearing plates 23 being inclined to-the horizontal at the sameangle it is carriage and the carriage mounted on-the rails, the rollers21 will rotate about horithe connecting portion of said bracket bezontalaxes notwithstanding the inclination i 75 I cured to the ends oftherails and further assist in strengthening the frame formed of 25 aplaced upon thesupportlS in front of a person who Wishes to examine thesame and of the carriage. By this arrangement of the V rollers, thedirection of force due to the Weight of the carriage and the booksupport thereon will be at all times in a vertical direction andperpendicular to the axes of said rollers, thereby avoiding all lateraldesk to support the-arm when Writing in a book near the bottom thereof.A leaf spring 26 attached to the rear of the support 18 extendsforwardly beneath the arm rest 24 and presses upon the same for thepurpose of holding the arm restin any position into which it may bemoved.

The operation of the device is evident from the above description. A'book is after opening it, the carriage is moved to the right or left,while the person examining the book remains seated or standing in oneposition, theextent of movement in either direction being dependent uponthe position on either page of the matter which it is desired toexamine. 7

Instead ofmaking the rails 11 and 12 and the guides 16 each of a singlepiece, they may be made as shown in Fig. 5 of two sections 27 and 28telescoping one within the other and of round tubular material. The endof each outer section 28 where the inner section 27 enters the'same willbe ground;

away as shown at 29 .-to permit therollers- 7 that support the carriagepassing easily thereoven In.this nodification, each rail and the guide16 above the same will be-connectedat each end by a return bend30'having feet 31 that rest upon the toplO of the) l desk or table. 5The return. bends of the front and rear rails ateach'end of the trackwill be connected by cross bars 32. When tubular material is used forthe track, the rollers 21 will have concaved bearing'isur- V faces '33as shown inFig. 6. 1

While we have shown and describedthe: v

best form of device known to us at the present time, it is tobeunderstoodthatfvarious changes and arrangements in the detailsofdconstruction may be made without departing from the spirit of. thisinvention and such changes as are equivalents of' that which is shownand described wehold as Y covered by theclaimr We claim: A book supportcomprising a transversely movable carriage for holding a book, a trackforthe carriage comprising a front rail, and,

a rear rail at a higher elevation than said front rail, bracketsattached to the carriage,

rollerscarried by said brackets and adapted to run on said rails, and aguide above each rail extending over the rollers thereon and through thebrackets.

In testimony whereof we affix oursignatures in presence of twowitnesses.

' WILLIAM A. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

ASHER A. GETCHELL, J. E. DICKENS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

I Washington, D. C.

V LYLE C EIsENHAltT. i

